LoveSick
by EveryStringAttached
Summary: Violet can't sleep and goes to see Pete about it. Pete's remedy may work for more than just Violet : .VioletCooper. Constructive criticism greatly appreciated :


_Howdy, this is my first piece of Private Practice fanfiction, actually written for a challenge at the fanfic critqique group (go there- it's amazing and the link's in my profile) and seeing as I've only seen 4 episodes, constructive criticism is more then welcome :) All the mistakes are mine, oh and I own nothing (except the Violet and Cooper porn dolls I made out of a cereal box :D)  
_

* * *

Violet yawned as she tried the handle of the door. To her surprise it was unlocked and she half expected Pete to be inside; the dimmed lights in the office however indicated that he wasn't.

"Violet," came a voice from behind her which made her jump. She spun around in surprise to find Pete standing in the doorway.

"Jesus Pete! You nearly gave me a heart attack," she exclaimed, an annoyed look on her face.

"Are you lost or something, or do you just like snooping around my stuff?" Pete asked, barely able to mask the smile that was forming on his face.

Violet's annoyed expression softened when she realised that he obviously wasn't bothered about her blatant disrespect of his privacy and space.

"I, um...I've actually got a question," she started, motioning for him to shut the door, "well, it's more of a problem."

Pete looked at her expectantly and for the first time noticed the dark circles underneath her eyes; she looked exhausted. He steered her over to the couch and with concern; noted that she didn't protest as he pushed her down to sit on the soft cushions.

"I'm listening," Pete said gently, hoping that she hadn't been put off by him joking earlier

"I'm having trouble sleeping," she admitted, her face screwing up in disgust.

Pete exhaled a breath, glad that it wasn't something more serious that was troubling his colleague.

"Sleep trouble's not uncommon Violet. You should know that, the majority of sleep disorders are psychological," he noticed a pale pink blush creep up her cheeks, "It' nothing to be embarrassed about."

Violet shifted in her seat as if she was uncomfortable in her position, perching right on the edge, "that's kind of the point, it's psychological, I'm a Psychiatrist, and I can't figure out what's going on with me," she looked up at Pete and pulled a face, "It IS embarrassing."

"We're doctors, but we can't always self-diagnose," he offered, although he knew it was probably of little use anyway.

"I know that, but it's just so...so, frustrating," Violet complained, screwing her hands up into angry fists.

"I can try and help you, but can I ask one question first? Why'd you come to me? Because you didn't want any of the others to know?" he asked, "They wouldn't have judged you Violet, it's a common enough problem and we're all friends here."

Violet smiled, "Good insight Pete, but the answer is much simpler than that," she said.

"Really?" he asked, "why then do I have the privilege of treating an insomnia-plagued Violet?"

"Insomnia-plagued?" Violet smirked, "okay now you're making it sound bad. But the truth is, you put Charlotte King to sleep, and she had _issues_; so I'm sure whatever you did for her will work for me." She explained, leaning back into the couch.

"Oh so all it takes is the Chief of St. Ambrose to give her seal of approval and I jump from a quack to a miracle worker?" he asked smiling.

"I thought you preferred to use the term 'alternative medicine practitioner'?" she said, "But quack is fine by me."

"Do you want me to help you or not?" Pete asked, laughing.

"I'd really appreciate it; honestly" Violet said seriously, "My obsessive compulsive this morning stopped the session halfway through because the bags under my eyes were making him anxious."

Pete stifled a laugh, and tried to ignore Violet's glare, "I have to ask okay, don't bite my head off."

Violet had already anticipated his question and cut in before he had a chance to ask it, "I'm over Alan, I don't even think about him anymore."

"The phone calls?" Pete grinned, "The messages on the answer phone?"

"They are all gone," Violet insisted, sitting up as if to further verify her point, "100 per cent done with that man."

"Okay," Pete said, the sing-song tone in his voice indicating that he didn't believe her at all, "come back at the end of the day and I'll have something ready for you to try."

Violet nodded her thanks before she got up to exit the office, "Pete," she said, glancing over her shoulder, "don't tell Cooper about this, he just, he worries," she explained.

"No problem," he replied, a smile forming on his face as a realisation hit him.

* * *

"What is that smell?" Violet complained as she made her way to the bed in the middle of the room.

"It's patchouli and riceflower, very, very relaxing," Pete enthused as he motioned for her to sit on the bed.

"Well it's very, very smelly," Violet said, wrinkling her nose.

"And you're getting irritable," Pete quipped, receiving a death glare from Violet for his comment, "Let's put you to sleep, if you just lie down and relax..."

"What? Do I have to fall asleep _here_?" she asked, a surprised look on her face, "why can't you give me something to try at home first?"

"Because," Pete started, as he pushed Violet back into a laying position, "It works better if you're in a neutral, stress-free environment."

"Stress free?" Violet sat up in the bed, "What here? I don't think so," she laughed.

Pete gripped her shoulders and pushed her back down onto the bed, "You said yourself, it worked for Charlotte, this will work for you."

Violet stifled a yawn, "You promise?" she asked with a hopeful look on her face.

"We don't promise Violet,_ you_ should know that," Pete said, "Now you, just relax and think of nice things like... whatever nice things you think of when you want to go to sleep, ignore the negative," he told her as he reached for the mixture of cream and herbs he had prepared earlier, "Now this will help you to drift off into a natural state of sleep," he explained, as he spread the mixture onto her forehead."

"It's cold," Violet complained, angrily peering up at Pete.

"Shut your eyes, and shut your mo...ind off to everything bad," he said as he reached over for the light switch, "sweet dreams."

* * *

As Pete exited his office he saw a flurry of movement out of the corner of his eye.

"Cooper?" he said, "What are you doing?"

Cooper felt a blush creep up his cheeks at being caught by Pete, "Well I was just, I'm worried about Violet."

"Oh no," Pete said as he saw the look on Cooper's face, "patient confidentiality, if Violet won't tell you, I can't."

"Come on, she hasn't looked well for days," Cooper complained.

Pete rolled his eyes, "Look, do you think that if it was really serious she'd be coming to the 'quack'?"

"So it's not serious?" Cooper asked, breathing a sigh of relief.

"No," he confirmed, smiling at his friend, "Now are you going to get back to work or what?"

"Actually, I wanted to see if you could help me with a problem," Cooper admitted.

A few scenarios ran through Pete's head before he decided to decline helping with whatever problem Cooper had.

"Has another of your internet 'buddies' run off with your car again?" he laughed, "Because I thought you'd learned your lesson."

"No, no, nothing like that, I'm actually having a bit of trouble sleeping."

"What is this, insomniac week or something?" Pete whispered under his breath, "You know that the majority of sleep problems are psychological," he said, repeating the line he had said to Violet earlier.

"I went to med school too, I know that," Cooper snapped.

"So talk to Violet, about whatever's bothering you, that usually sorts things out. I thought you two were close anyway."

"We are," Cooper said defensively, "But that's the point," he paused, as if he was wondering whether to continue or not, "Violet is..."

"Violet's the problem," Pete surmised, suddenly piecing things together in his mind, "Why don't you talk to her?"

Cooper shrugged, he didn't understand why it was so hard for him to tell Violet what he really felt, they had shared everything else, so why not this on more little detail?

"I can't lose her as a friend, I don't want to ruin it, I don't want to be the one who makes things awkward." Cooper admitted as he stared at the shut blinds that blocked the window.

"You know, I think she may feel the same way," Pete started, "About you I mean, she's having trouble sleeping too," he said, "But I didn't tell you the last part."

The paediatrician looked up at Pete's revelation, "You really think so?"

"Yes I do," Pete confirmed, reaching out for the door handle, "And I think you'd better sort it out before Violet scares all her patients away and you get too tired and kill someone," he quietly pushed open the door, "Go on," Pete said, making shooing gestures with his hand.

"What if...?"

"Don't mess it up Cooper," Pete advised, before pushing him inside the room completely.

"Pete?" Violet called out, "This is not working."

"It's not Pete," Cooper said, not moving from in front of the door, "I didn't know you were in here, sorry," he apologise before he turned to open the door again. To his dismay he found it was locked, "Damn you Pete," he muttered, jiggling the handle.

"Are you okay?" Violet asked sitting up in the bed.

Cooper bit back a laugh as he moved further into the room. The dim light from the candles allowed him to see Violet and she was sitting there, apparently oblivious to the fact that her hair was a mess and she had a dark green crust on her forehead.

"I think Pete locked me in here," Cooper admitted, bringing his eyes up to meet Violet's.

"What? Why would he do that?" she asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"He think's we need to talk," Cooper explained, "Do you think we need to talk?"

"Do you?" Violet repeated, tilting her head. She patted the space on the bed next to her, "Do you wanna start?" she asked, as Cooper sat down.

* * *

"How long have they been in there?" Addison asked, as Pete explained the sitation.

"How long have who been in where?" Naomi cut in, having heard the conversation from down the hall.

"Cooper and Violet," Addison explained, "Pete locked them in there to talk."

"About 9 minutes ago," Pete told them, a pleased look on his face.

"What are you three doing?" Sam asked incredulously as he came around the corner to see three of his colleagues staring intently at a window they couldn't see through.

"Cooper and Violet are 'talking'," Naomi informed him, putting an emphasis on the last word.

"Oh, okay," Sam said, nodding his head, before standing next to Pete, "How long they been in there?"

"About ten minutes," came a chorus of three voices.

* * *

"The things is Cooper, is that my head and my heart keep telling me different things, and maybe I over analyse things, but you and me, can we work, together? When we're so different?" Violet looked up at Cooper with sad eyes, "I don't want to ruin what we have," she sighed.

"Neither do I," Cooper said, "but I love you Violet, I have done for a long time," he admitted; albeit knowing that Violet wouldn't say it back. Not yet; she was so much more guarded with her feelings after what happened with Alan.

"There are a thousand ways this could go wrong, I don't want to hurt you."

Cooper held his breath as he dared to reach for Violet's hand; when she didn't pull away he relaxed and squeezed it gently.

"Can you stop being Violet the psychiatrist and just be Violet for a moment," Cooper said seriously, "while you're busy making a thousand excuses to not go for this, I've got a thousand more reasons which say otherwise."

"Don't you think I've got the same thousand right here? I want this to work just as much as you do" she whispered, her voice wavering as she pointed to her heart. She looked up and was surprised to find tears shining in Cooper's eyes.

"You've thought a lot about this haven't you?" she asked, smiling slightly at the thought.

"It's been keeping me up all night," he smiled back.

"Okay," Violet said, a decisive tine in her voice.

"Okay?" Cooper repeated.

"Okay, let's try this," Violet decided, nodding her head, "but we're gonna do this properly."

"Are you asking me out on a date Violet Turner?" Cooper asked, his eyes beaming with joy.

"Yes I am Cooper Friedman," Violet smiled and leaned her head on Cooper's shoulder, "Yes I am."

* * *

_And there it is :)_


End file.
